18 Facts About Bert Sutcliffe

Bert Sutcliffe captained New Zealand in four Tests in the early 1950s, losing three of them and drawing the other.

In 1949 Bert Sutcliffe was named the inaugural New Zealand Sportsman of the Year, and in 2000 was named as New Zealand champion sportsperson of the decade for the 1940s.

Bert Sutcliffe was born in the Auckland suburb of Ponsonby to parents who had migrated from Lancashire in 1921.

Bert Sutcliffe was a brilliant schoolboy cricketer at Takapuna Grammar School, and spent two years at teacher training college before joining the army in 1944.

Bert Sutcliffe scored heavily in matches he was able to play while serving with New Zealand forces in Egypt and Italy at the end of the Second World War.

Bert Sutcliffe served in the cypher section of the army signals unit in Japan in 1946, where he played cricket in Chofu.

Bert Sutcliffe established himself in his first international match when he scored 197 and 128 in the same match for Otago against a touring Marylebone Cricket Club team at Dunedin in March 1947.

Bert Sutcliffe made his Test debut a few days later, scoring 58 in New Zealand's only innings and adding 133 for the first wicket with Walter Hadlee.

Bert Sutcliffe notably scored 243 and 100 not out in the match against Essex at Southend.

Bert Sutcliffe went on to total 2,627 first-class runs on the tour at an average of 59.70.

When England toured New Zealand in 1951 Bert Sutcliffe scored his second test century of 116 in the first test in Christchurch.

Bert Sutcliffe was hit on the head by Adcock and, having left the field to receive hospital treatment, returned to the crease swathed in bandages.

Bert Sutcliffe took on the bowling, hitting a number of sixes, until the ninth wicket fell.

Bert Sutcliffe started to walk off only to see Blair walk out.

Bert Sutcliffe wrote his memoirs, Between Overs: Memoirs of a Cricketing Kiwi, in 1963.

Bert Sutcliffe died in Auckland on 20 April 2001, aged 77, from emphysema.

Bert Sutcliffe is described in Barclays World of Cricket as one of New Zealand's "most productive and cultured batsmen".

Bert Sutcliffe is noted to be moving back and across the stumps more than many batsmen in his time like Geoffrey Boycott, which lays a foundation to more modern and contemporary batsmen since the 80's to deal with fast bowlers.